Poverty gap teaching appeal in Cameroon

Fresh calls have been made to provide more financial incentives to attract the most talented teachers in Cameroon to schools serving deprived or controlled opposition municipalities.

The demand came after it emerged more than 250 municipalities over 350 have come bottom of a new national league table that records the gap between reading and the writing skills of the cleverest pupils from both affluent and deprived areas.

Research by the leading teachers`union based in Yaounde revealed the difference in achievement between all the public schools  in the country. The worst areas are those in the opposition controlled municipalities. It comes after one of the opposition leader and prominent challenger to the acting Cameroon Head of State by the help of some internal reports from the leading teachers national union revealed inspections are failed by almost one in three primary and secondary schools in deprived areas.

Jean Marc Bikoko, one of the most influential civil servant union activist said  he " was sympathetic to the idea of encouraging staff and head teachers with a proven track record to kick-start schools failing to achieve acceptable levels in provinces and not just wanting to stay in the capital close to the administration.." and also suggested " the attainment gap could be closed by getting the best leaders and teachers into the areas where they were needed the most..." before describing the actual regime as the " enemy of the education, growth and prosperity.."

Ruefli Hafi said " providing a financial incentive would be a positive step forward even the latest figures on reading and writing are appalling and after more than 29 years of Biya`s administration and the failure of their national education policy, it is something we should all be concerned about.."

There is a real and urgent need for the country benefit as a whole to " put a lot more funding into early years education to ensure this gap is eradicated because we know intervention does work if it is done early enough....

 Enough public monies have been diverted for unnecessary expenditure and it is time to change direction and vision and think about giving financial incentives to actively recruit the most gifted and effective teachers and leaders. We know our education system at the moment has failed and we have to address this and increase the gap as children get older and public funding has to go into narrowing the gap at an early stage and sustaining that gain through the life of the young person.." he said.

He then concluded by saying that  " policy-makers must turn their attention to reducing inequalities in educational achievement among the brightest children in society, to ensure those from disadvantaged families in controlled opposition municipalities around the country are not left behind.."